Seagate bucks negative trend on Banc of America upgrade

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Seagate Technology
STX, +0.52%
shares rose early Friday after Banc of America upgraded the stock to "neutral" vs. "sell" in response to a profit warning from rival Maxtor
MXO, +0.00%
Late Thursday, the disk-storage maker lowered its second-quarter forecasts due to an aggressive pricing environment and lower-than-expected unit shipments. "Our upgrade is based on responding to the issue -- would you sell more STX based on the MXO pre? Our answer is no. This is an event we have been looking for to help our "sell" rating. We have gotten the event and we are moving on," analyst Keith Bachman told clients in a note. Bachman expects the negative news flow to slow down in the second half and that estimates for Seagate "will finally become more reasonable." Seagate shares were last trading up 10 cents at $14.35, while Maxtor lost 48 cents to $5.99.

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